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The peak of the apple season

As I write these lines, we are in the middle of the apple season, and it's an apple year, as you may have noticed if you have apple trees around you, they are bursting with fruit!

Excellent news for the people in the west of France in particular, but let's have a little thought for those in the east where it's a completely different story, the late spring frost has done a lot of damage, an almost blank year for apples and other fruits in some regions.

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Last modified on: October 23^th 2021

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The peak of the apple season

tarte aux pommes

It's the season, as I said, and you have to take advantage of it as much as possible, even if apples keep pretty well over time.
So, let's go for all kinds of recipes: cakes, pies, compotes, baked, etc. It's delicious, and it can be used with all varieties of apples, which are often called in french "knife apples" to differentiate them from "cider apples".

In France, there are probably as many varieties of apples as there are cheeses, some of which are very well known, such as "golden", "reinette", "granny-smith" etc. And others much less well known and often very local, like the "reinettes d'Armorique", "calville", "belle fille normande", etc.
Of course, they are generally not very popular, you will hardly find them in supermarkets, but you can find them on the markets or with local producers, or with enthusiasts, who try to maintain (with difficulty) this greedy heritage.

As far as apples and recipes are concerned, in cooking and pastry-making, there are no rules, you can use any apple in any recipe, in theory... In practice it is a bit more delicate, and here are some points that deserve your attention:

- It's always good to remember, apples are overall quite fragile and susceptible to insect attack, so it's perfectly normal to have fruit that's a bit stained, a bit ugly, and not at all like the apples in the shiny, smooth, perfectly round in commercials. Surface imperfections are a sign of a lack of chemical treatments, and therefore a good sign, whereas a fruit that is "too" beautiful, especially with those stupid individual sticker labels, is always a bit fishy in my eyes. Long live ugly apples!

- Some apples don't do well with baking, granny-smiths for example, but that's almost an exception, and not an absolute rule either.

pommes golden

- The golden apple (above) is the archetype of the fruit that has been over-selected, processed and improved, to finally obtain an apple, certainly very pretty on the outside, but with a rather bland taste.
In my opinion, this is the apple to avoid, and to turn to more typical apples, which are much better in taste and health.

pommes reinettes

- The whole family of reinettes, and in particular the "reine des reinettes" (above) give an excellent and delicious result when cooked, their small natural acidity gives absolutely divine tarts (and in particular the tarte tatin).

- Whatever the recipe you are going to make, compote, tart or other, it is always very interesting to mix several varieties, rather sweet with rather sour for example. The taste will vary as you eat a pie or a cake, you will be pleasantly surprised by the result.

- The taste of apples changes with time, generally more pronounced, a little more acidic after the harvest, and softening with time.

épluche-pommes

- If you like and prepare apples often, I strongly advise you to invest in an apple peeler (pictured above) which peels, cores, and slices, it's not very expensive and makes life incredibly easy. If you decide on a whim to make an apple crumble for example, the simplest of cakes without doubt and adored by children because they can put their hands in the dough, a crumble then, with this tool, in 10 minutes of clock it is in the oven.

In summary: Make the most of the apple season, opt for local varieties if you can find them, avoid golden ones and invest in an apple peeler if possible and... eat apples!

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